


West Wind Carry Me Home

by overworkedunderwhelmed



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, FitzSimmons - Freeform, Many More Characters to Come, Maveth AU, Pantheon of Stories, Trip Lives!, Universe Alterations, alternate 3A
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-20 04:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8235523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overworkedunderwhelmed/pseuds/overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: When the monolith proved to be a doorway into another time, bringing Jemma back proved a challenge.  Thrown into an ancient culture, they use their limited knowledge of the past to carry out their frantic search in secret.  But in doing so, their reunion may just mirror the myth far more than they ever intended.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [memorizingthedigitsofpi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/gifts).



> Big thanks to AGL03 and itsavolcano for all the content and other beta reading help!
> 
> Dedicated to memorizingthedigitsofpi, as the core story idea was submitted to her for her amazing March Madness project. Unfortunately, this was a bit hard to translate to that project, so I've had to past half year to ponder ideas to try to do this story justice. I hope you all enjoy! :)

She slid a hand over her brow, wincing as her fingers pulled back grime that seemed permanently caked to her forehead. The invisibility umbrella Fitz had refined was excellent at masking her presence as she traveled through the woods and hills and around crowds. Fitz had even thought to make it a more functional walking stick when it wasn’t deployed.

Unfortunately, for all its perks, sitting under the umbrella did little to shelter her from the persistent long sunny hours and the dust and dirt kicked up from the roads. She sighed, taking a moment along the rocky path to sip the last bit of fresh water she’d scrimped along her journey before she tackled the winding stone stairs.

Smoothing down her hair, she pressed on, wishing she had the forethought to bring a box of hair dye before this whole mess started. Her blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb, as did her height. At least she had managed to smuggle a few robes to hide the clearest evidence that she didn’t belong here. These people were already skittish enough of strangers without her mission gear confusing matters.

She had been travelling for a while now. At least through the whole of the lunar cycle, scouring for any hint of someone out of place as she crossed the lands and occasionally unveiled herself to inquire. She finally managed to find some actionable intel that might actually pan out.

The fact that this girl also stood out gave her hope.

* * *

As she crested the top of the stairs, she retracted the umbrella and pulled back her hood out of respect for the inhabitants, drawing close to the columns to figure out who to approach first.

Bobbi arched a brow. She did not have long to contemplate before she spotted her quarry, her dark curls half obscuring her face as she inclined her head in prayer to the Goddess. Her analytical brown eyes memorizing every feature, clearly committing each to memory.

Bobbi smirked. Of course, she would be hiding out in the temple of Athena. There should never have been the slightest hint of doubt in her mind.

Unfortunately, Hunter would never let either of them hear the end of it. Not that she’d ever tell him. He had been half to blame for the whole code name fiasco anyways.

Looming in the shadows a while longer, Bobbi opted for the straightest course, proceeding up to the altar, ostensibly to make her her own prayers. 

She stood side by side, before the shorter woman smiled politely and headed back to the anteroom.

Bobbi frowned. Something was very off. There hadn’t even been a glimmer of recognition in her brown eyes. 

Fitz would need to wait a while longer. She couldn’t possibly tell him until she’d made sense of all this. But...even then it might not be enough. Bobbi wasn’t sure he could manage to lose hope like that again.

It had been hard enough just to watch it the first time.


	2. Chapter 2

_Long ago in a not-so-far away land, there were a band of humans who possessed remarkable strength, cleverness, wit, and knowledge. They fostered abilities and furthered the pursuit of truth and knowledge. They prided themselves on the capability to use that power to protect the world at large. They grew to be considered as gods amongst men, occasionally walking amongst them in secret._

_At one time, they were known as the Pantheon, but over the ages they opted instead for the moniker of SHIELD, protecting mankind from those that would harm it...and on occasion from itself._

His lanyard clicked against the keyboard on the laptop, keeping remarkably perfect time with the commotion from the kitchen not twenty feet away.

“Eric,” his brother called out. “Get over here and taste this. Sam says it’s way too salty.”

Eric rolled his eyes, grabbing the pair of glasses from his face and shucking them onto the desk before shut the laptop into hibernate mode. He slid his hand over his face. Coulson would need a much better report and soon. Besides, they could hardly squander the energy reserves they had.

Victoria Hand was only an hour away with the next round of materials, and would be pressing for a sit rep.

Hopefully, she was fond of Italian. Billy always made enough to last them for weeks.

* * *

Bobbi inclined her head up to the statute, regarding it with a mixture of confusion and awe.

She still was struggling to mask her own shock that Jemma truly seemed to present no recollection of her, even with the cloaking and translation systems removed.

She wondered what might have drawn Jemma to it, given her own strictly scientific mindset. Was it the architecture? Was it the innate sense of history? If her memories were at least partially intact, there must have been some appeal held by the the role that Athena played in this ancient world. Bobbi chose to hold on to that hope.

Bobbi stalled, giving Jemma a fair amount of lead time, before she had tailed her all the way back to her adoptive home.

She didn’t have much longer before she’d need to return to their field base. They had traveled light through the portal, but even the key pieces of tech needed to come back to recharge periodically.

Somehow, she needed to find a way to subtly get backup without alerting Fitz...or Hunter. He could always read her far better than he should.

* * *

Coulson wheezed a bit on what had to be their fourth mountain into this little trek. “Any idea how much farther we have to go to the drop site?”

May glanced back over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes. “You heard as well as I did. Fitz said these coordinates weren’t nearly so precise as what we were used to. We’re lucky it can at least pinpoint the correct side of the mountain.”

He stopped against the nearest rock, fishing the pair of binoculars out of the bag. Frowning, he scoured the horizon.

She was watching him expectantly. “Anything?”

He shook his head. “It would help if we knew exactly what we should be looking for.”

May raised a brow, holding out her hands expectantly.

Coulson handed off the binoculars gladly.

She peered further down the mountain, musing aloud. “Hera may be inclined to subtlety, but--”

“Our Geek Chorus?” he quipped. “Yeah. They are definitely not.”

May grinned slightly, nodding her head pointedly to their left. “SciFi shows really aren’t my thing, but does that look familiar to you?”

Coulson smirked as he spotted the Star Fleet Insignia, before replacing the binoculars in the satchel. He vaguely wondered which of the brothers managed to sneak that passed Victoria Hand’s watch.

Of course, her sense of humor was wry enough that she might actually appreciate the oddity.

“Let's get this back to Fitz and see what he makes of it.”

* * *

She sighed as she neared the final hillside that would lead her home, tugging an unruly dark lock behind her ear. She kept hoping that the temple might give her more of a sign. Her parents -- or so they asserted -- were pressuring her to marry. The other two girls had been married for several years now, and she was certainly old enough to wed. But she was decidedly unsettled.

Though the bruises of her head and arms had long faded, she was told she took an awful fall and had hit her head. Her memories were gone. It was as if she sprang newly formed from the point of waking from her injury.

It was part of why the notion of marrying unsettled her so. What if she wasn’t who her parents had so adamantly claimed? What if she was already wed? Or promised to someone?

Oddly, she understood language. How was that possible if she was not from around here? It was as if she heard her brain translating the language with a slight delay.

She blinked, halting suddenly as she realized something she had missed. The traveler she met in the temple had been different. The blonde woman’s words had been few, but upon recollection, she could not recall hearing one bit of translation in her head. Perhaps she knew better where she had come from.

She spun on her heel, kicking up a dirt under the heel of her sandal. Maybe if she rushed back to the temple, she could still catch the traveler.

“Psyche? Is that you?”

She stopped, wincing as she turned around. “Yes, Mother.”

“Come along, dear,” her mother called down the hill. “Your father has made arrangements for us all to travel to the Oracle.”

Psyche bit her lip. This all could not have come at a worse time. But perhaps if she went today and got this fortune, then she could travel back to the temple tomorrow. Surely one of the priestesses there might give her the traveler's direction if she headed back as first light.

* * *

“I dunno, Turbo,” Mack’s booming voice echoed through the smithy. A set of metals hissed as they cooled in the pool of water. “I’m not really sure these materials will hold up as well as you think they will.”

Fitz cast an experimental eye on the sight of the modified ICER. The Emotional Response Override Solution would be ready, producing an endorphin rush that would last for a few moments for before exhausting the target’s system. After a good nap, they’d be in good shape. Luckily, Jemma had been working on the formula before it was shelved so they could help chase Daisy’s parents across several continents.

He set the gun back down on the table a bit more forcefully than necessary. Were it not for the damned portal, the solution would be perfect right now and they could focus on righting wrongs on their usual side of the portal. “It won’t be perfect. They can only send so much equipment securely, but this should allow us to keep from altering the timeline.”

Mack nodded, grabbing the “If these can work, it wouldn’t hurt to have them send us more cloaking materials.”

Fitz’s eyes narrowed. “If I could figure out how to code the message the Koenigs will recognize into one of the temples that can survive the test of time, I will. But--”

Mack chuckled, tugging the now ruined apron over his head. He grabbed a fresh shirt before moving over to the water spigot Fitz had rigged up. “Yeah. Hunter managing to get himself kicked out of the last place, means that word is slowly getting around about the “graffiti artists.”

“Dionysus,” Fitz corrected with a sigh. “If only Hermes wasn’t off gathering intel with Poseidon at the time.”

Mack’s eyes softened at their mention, although Fitz wasn’t sure if that was more inspired by Daisy or Elena. Mack didn’t give him the opportunity to inquire. “You know, you’re awfully firm about the code names. For all that you won’t use yours.”

"Well, _Poseidon_ didn’t decide to call you the bloody god of love. You got to be Hephaestus."

“You weren’t the only one less than fond of their names,” Mack grinned cheekily, tugging a fresh shirt on. “You have to admit that Daisy has a bit of a wicked sense of humor there. But it came from a good place. You said yourself that she’d been trying to help you two get together since the earliest days of the team, right?”

Fitz nodded somberly. “But it isn’t helping get her back. I understand the timeline concerns, but I need every bit of focus I can to give you all the tools you need to find her.”

“I’m just an extra pair of hands to get you whatever you need.” Mack assured him. “But everyone else is out there. A whole pantheon of Gods scouring the area to bring her back in. Zeus and Ares are recovering the toolbox.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Fitz slumped back into the chair. “And everyone else went in a cardinal direction to scour for clues.”

“And will be checking back in soon.”

“Sooner than you think, Turtle Man,” a voice called out behind them.

Mack’s eyes widened.

* * *

Bobbi hid in the middle of the crowd. She hadn’t expected Jemma to backpedal back from what must have been her erstwhile home.

But she also was not alone; an older man and woman walked along at her sides. Bobbi had no choice but to shadow from a subtle distance within the marketplace crowd, before she could duck into a darkened alley between the columns hide back under the umbrella cloak.

Bobbi bit her lip, thankful that they were headed up another hill, where the people were more sparse but were in some sort of line.

Bobbi veered off to the side column to wait. There were at least ten people ahead at the moment and even the late day sun was oppressive under the umbrella. Inside was some sort of oracle, speaking in hushed tones from under a dark hood...conveniently only after the clerk’s hand was crossed with a significant donation.

She watched the oracle. Her voice was level and even and she doles out fortune after fortune.

But when Jemma stepped forward, the transformation was almost electric. The oracle jerked backwards, as if she was a puppet whose strings were yanked, and the crowd grew suddenly, painfully quiet. The older couple looked on in awe, but Jemma just looked uncertain and uncomfortable.

The oracle’s face was partially obscured in unnatural shadow, but her voice had dropped a full octave as she intoned: _"The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist."_

The older woman behind Jemma half-fainted, and the man stood in to help her.

But Jemma just looked shocked, a feeling that Bobbi understood too well at the moment.

But the oracle was not finished. _“The Monster will not be denied its due. He expects her acquiescence in one week’s time.”_

The older pair’s eyes bulged, grabbing for Jemma and hauling her away from the temple with what little speed they had between the pair of them.

Bobbi needed to run with all possible speed just to reach Fitz. They only had a week, and every second counted.


End file.
